GUEST: I received this album... from a family friend of ours. I inherited it. I was just very fascinated with it.
APPRAISER: Terrific. Well, what you have brought in… is an album of Indian photographs. The page here titles the album and gives us the name of the missionary who was active in the Indian territories, and, interestingly, compiled an album that relates to one of the bloodiest episodes in Minnesota's history, that resulted in a series of Indian wars that did not end until the Battle of Wounded Knee in 1890. The Minnesota governor called in Sibley to command the forces, and-- turning the page--Little Crow, who was the Sioux leader, decided not to negotiate with Sibley, but to engage in a series of wars. The name of the photographer who actually took these photographs is credited on the mount-recto. Over here, he's identified as Whitney, a local photographer, and what's so interesting about these photographs is that there's text that identifies the subjects and, in some instances, gives us a little more information about them. Well, based on the number of photographs in the album and the fact that they're extremely rare albumen carte-de-visites, I would estimate the album would bring, in an auction environment, between $15,000 and $20,000.
GUEST: You're kidding me.
APPRAISER: I'm not kidding you.
